Holy Nature - Enature - On The Desert Island -1... | Desktop |

Last night, a reef shark circled my lagoon. I felt the ancient, mammalian terror spike through my spine. In my old life, I would have called a ranger or bought a gun. Here, I had to negotiate. I realized that the shark was not evil. It was hunger with fins. It was part of Enature too.

Theologians speak of Mysterium Tremendum —the terrifying, fascinating mystery of the divine. I have found it inside a sea turtle’s eye. I have found it in the geometry of a spiral shell. I have found it in the moment when a school of silverfish leaps from the water simultaneously, a liquid explosion of syncopated life.

There is a moment, after the roar of the sea has swallowed the last echo of the engine, when you realize you are not stranded. You are planted . Holy Nature - Enature - On The Desert Island -1...

This is the first entry of what I have come to call my Enature —a word that did not exist in my old vocabulary. In the city, we had ‘nature’ as a concept, a postcard, a weekend escape. But here, on this desert island, Nature is not a backdrop. It is a person, a force, a liturgy. I am learning to spell it with a silent, holy reverence: .

Because on this desert island, is not a resource. It is a communion. And I have finally stopped talking long enough to receive it. Last night, a reef shark circled my lagoon

Next entry: "Holy Nature - Enature - On The Desert Island -2... - The Tasting of Rain and the Geography of Bones." If you enjoyed this meditation, remember: You do not need a shipwreck to find a desert island. You only need to sit still in your own backyard and let the wild reclaim you. Close your laptop. Go outside. Begin your own Enature today.

On this island, there is no Wi-Fi, but there is a different kind of connection. The morning glory vines that crawl over my driftwood shelter are not "plants." They are relatives. When it rains, I do not run for cover; I stand in the downpour and remember that I am 70% water. This is the first lesson of : You are not in nature. You are nature, aware of itself. Here, I had to negotiate

I am on (I suspect there are many islands within this one—the island of thirst, the island of loneliness, the island of bliss). I have named this first phase "The Unfastening." Every day, another rivet of my civilized personality pops loose. Part V: A Letter to the World I Left To whoever finds this bottle: